As town grows, so does police department

We have seen so many changes in our town over the past 10 years. It wasn’t that long ago that our police department only had a couple of dozen officers, and was still running out of town hall. With the growth that has occurred so has the professionalism of our department. With this professionalism, comes the desire to strive to improve customer service at all times.

Did you know that a survey is given to all persons who have police contact. This is free to send back in and only asks a few quick questions: Did the police arrive in a timely manner? How do you rate the agencies performance? Was the officer polite and professional? Was the officer able to provide a solution to your problem? Do you see the BPD patrolling your neighborhood? Where do you live? Do you have any safety concerns in your neighborhood? Do you have any suggestions to improve police service?

The responses are compiled in a report and given to the chief of police for any action.

1) Customer callbacks: Every supervisor is required to make five random quality assurance callbacks on each of their officers. The calls ask similar questions to the ones above and help us identify strengths and weaknesses of all of our officers. Results of the calls are forwarded up the chain of command for any action.

2) Website: Our website www.blufftonpolice.com has a section for citizens to submit comments either anonymously or not to comment of the departments efforts or comment on an individual officer. The website is prominently displayed on the back of every patrol car. All of the information taken from these sources, as well as any other community concerns is compiled every quarter into a report with specific actions taken or proposed. We are trying to be responsive to citizen concerns and work to always improve our customer service and hold ourselves accountable.

We sometimes hear about marked police cars committing traffic violations. If you see this taking place we would encourage every person to take note of the car number — a four-digit number located in the right rear bumper, and call right away to us. We will take appropriate action. This helps us in rectifying any problem much more than you sending in an anonymous Vox.

Finally, we are accepting applications so please see our website for details.